Today In History : 104 Years Since Emily Davison Died For Women’s Right To Vote

It is 104 years to the day since Emily Davison gave her life in the fight for women’s right to vote.

On 8 June 1913, Emily Wilding Davison became a symbol of women’s emancipation when she died of her injuries after throwing herself under King George V’s horse at the Epsom racecourse four days earlier.

It’s believed Davison was attempting to attach a scarf or flag calling for women to have the vote on to the horse’s bridle rather than intentionally harm herself.

Although she was mortally wounded and became the first woman to give her sacrifice her life for the cause.

Even before her death, Davison was a ferocious force in the British suffrage movement.

Suffragette Emily Davison is hit and killed by King George V’s horse Anmer during the 1913 Epsom Derby (Picture: Getty)

She was known for her extreme and daring campaigning tactics and was arrested on nine separate occasions.

Davison was born in southeast London on 11 October 1872.

She was educated at Royal Holloway College and later studied at Oxford University.

She joined the Women’s Social and Political Union, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst, in 1906.

The Daily Sketch front page, 9 June, 1913

Becoming increasingly passionate about the cause as she got older, her political displays became increasingly more militant.

She was arrested for burning post boxes and causing public disturbance. In 1909, Davison was sentenced to a month of hard labour in Strangeways Prison in Manchester after throwing stones at a carriage transporting chancellor David Lloyd George.

She went on hunger strike during her short spell in prison and resisted force feeding by guards.